The Stories of Silvia Silverman Chapter 2 ~ Crimson Revealed
- Admin
- May 7, 2017
- 9 min read
This article contains banners that link to affiliate sites and I will make a commission if you purchase from them. For more info, view my disclosure.
The horizontal line of deadpan faces left me feeling intimidated. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. As I was wondering what the hell I was doing there, Mariah was lifting the megaphone to her mouth again. “You have all been invited here today, because I or another Colour have seen potential in you.” Mariah’s dark red curls bounced along with her every word. She was an hourglass within a canary yellow fit and flare dress. It was an ironic playful look contrasting her harsh tone.
I gazed around the quad to try and read the faces of the other “initiates.” I recognized one girl from my Choir class, a freshman named Jasmine. She was sitting in the grass looking up at Mariah, skepticism clear on her face. Her jet-black hair was in dreads down to her waist and when she pushed her hair behind her shoulders, the beaded tips clanked together. Next thing I saw, she was standing up, and then she turned to walk toward the carpool line. Part of me felt like I should follow; something did seem off about this gathering. The shadow of anxiety inside me swallowed this thought to avoid the attention. Unsure as I was, I had been lonely since moving here. It felt nice to finally be included in something. Whatever this something was.
“If you leave now, you will NOT get another invitation,” Mariah hissed, away from her unnecessary amplification. Her eyes were lit flames, and I chanced a worried look at Jasmine. She must have known something the others didn’t, because she had a confidence I envied as she strode away. She never glanced back at the Colours. Mariah’s face was starting to match her hair.
The initiates were starting to squirm. Two minutes in and this initiation was a disaster. We still had no clue what we were doing here. A blaring alarm was going off in my head. Something was not right. Sensing this, another Colour moved out of line to take over. The new speaker was Preston, the football team’s star running back. I realized then that I hadn’t paid much attention to Mariah’s cohorts; she had made herself the focus. Now, the queen bee was being overthrown, and I believe if we initiates weren’t there, Preston would have felt her sting. Instead, she gave up control and took his place in line.
Preston didn’t bother using the megaphone, which I think we all appreciated. “Ok, so I bet you’re wondering what the hell is going on, right?”
Couldn’t argue with that. Some people answered, others bobbed their heads and some let out nervous laughs. I was silent, but starting to relax more.
Preston sighed and rolled his eyes at Mariah. Her eyes were cold and Preston’s smile beamed. He definitely should have kicked off the show. “Alright, so here’s the deal. The Colours are what we call ourselves, but I think you’ve figured that much out. We’re a group, kind of like a frat, I guess?”
There was that word again. Now in context, I understood. Savannah had said Eric was a frat-star, so why wasn’t he here?
“The Colours used to be a secret society. I mean, I guess we still are,” Preston looked back at the Colours behind him for guidance.
Ok, maybe he wasn’t so great at this either.
“Jesus, Preston, you’ve been in the group since freshman year. You’d think you’d be able to explain what we do,” the exasperated voice came from another Colour behind him. She was petite and pale, wearing mint green rimmed glasses. She was walking forward to take Preston’s place. He laughed, put his hands up in surrender and got back in line. “Preston, ladies and gentleman,” the girl had her arm extended out to him and he bowed dramatically, getting some laughs from the crowd.
“Usually initiation isn’t such a train wreck,” she said. I’m not sure if that was supposed to be reassuring or not, but at least they hadn’t lost any initiates since Jasmine. “I’m April, and I also promise that Mariah won’t bite any of you,” she said while stifling a laugh.
“Ha. Ha,” Mariah said staccato, her eyes rolling.
“The Colours are Lakeview Academy’s secret society. Preston got himself confused,” she emphasized, “because of an incident last year that almost blew our cover. But for a majority of the school, we’re still unknown.”
I guess that would explain the reaction of the three girls that didn’t get an invite. My stomach was in knots. I couldn’t tell you if it was from nerves or excitement, probably both.
“We’ve asked you all here because, for some reason or another, we thought you’d 1, fit in with us and 2, we thought you could keep a secret.”
Well, they weren’t wrong about that. Who could I tell? My fellow initiates were starting to talk and ask questions, but April raised a hand in the air and everyone became silent.
“I know you all probably have a million questions, but we’ve lost a lot of time already. I’m going to do my best to explain everything, but right now we’ve got to go.”
We looked around at one another in confusion.
“Each senior Colour chose three people for initiation. They’ll round you up, and take you to the location.”
I stayed at my table, waiting for Crimson to be revealed. A minute later, Mariah was next to me with her first initiate in tow.
“The girl that left was my third initiate,” Mariah said, looking defeated. “It’s just us now, so let’s go.”
So, Mariah was the Crimson from my note. I guess her hair had already given me that clue. I stood up and followed her through the quad and crowd of people getting sorted to their leaders. Mariah’s other initiate was Dennis. He was at least a foot taller than me, and more if you counted the height of his afro. He wasn’t interested in talking beyond introductions. I was okay with that though, I wasn’t quite sure what to say either.
We continued single-file silently, Dennis trailing. He seemed slightly scared of Mariah, who was still in her own world of anger and misery. We walked to the other end of the quad, past the school and towards a patch of woods. I wanted to know where we were going. I didn’t know whether to be worried or not. But I didn’t dare ask Mariah. I was just going to have to wait it out.
Our strangely paired trio made it through the clearing in the woods and I was taken aback. Lake Porter glowed in front of us. We were no longer on grass, but sand. The ground shifted, uncertain beneath me. The sun was high in the afternoon sky and the smell of rotting fish reached my nose as I spotted a carcass on the sand. Sunlight danced on the tepid water. I was transfixed. The other Colours arriving broke me out of my daze.
As the others made their way through the woods, I noticed they had all come from different directions. We all stood in our clusters, separated on the beach.
April left her initiates to walk into the water to face us and take charge. “Glad we didn’t lose any of you!” She was laughing, her mint glasses scrunched up on her nose.
Some laughed with her. I let out a sigh of relief. I was okay, nothing bad had happened. Yet.
“You might be wondering why we’re here. I’ll get to that in a minute.” The water was tame around her, barely lapping at the backs of her legs. “The name you were addressed on your invites, will be your official Colour name from here on out.”
Arms shot up in the air. Others—less polite—blurted out. “What if I don’t like my name?”
April was not amused. Her hands were on her hips, and she was tsking. “I hate to break it to you, but if you hate your name, you’re stuck with it. Think of it this way,” she leaned forward, her hair flying forward. She caught it and tied it into a bun effortlessly. “You didn’t get to choose the name on your birth certificate. You don’t get to choose your name now. Most of you are freshman, so stick it out. If you still hate your names after you rank up, they can be evaluated.”
This made people shut up. It made sense anyway, they couldn’t waste time changing people’s names now. I thought about my name. Blue. How was this standard color still available for me? I didn’t mind though. Blue was who I wanted to be. People noticed Blue. Silvia had always been ignored. Blue was a wolf, Silvia the sheep. Silvia was trapped within herself, but Blue was pushing at my skin to break through.
A second later, my back pocket buzzed on vibrate. Crap. I had completely forgotten to tell my mom I was staying after school. I slipped my phone out and into my hand to see 3 texts and 2 missed calls from my mother.
4:30 PM- “Get stuck in traffic?”
4:40 PM- “Where are you??”
4:55 PM- “Silvia please call me back ASAP so I know you’re ok”
I understood her worry. I had never arrived home past four o’clock before. It was now nearly five. She probably thought I was in a wreck or kidnapped. Clearly, being surrounded by my peers was not her first or second thought.
My mind automatically took me back to 8th grade, when my mom could finally afford to stop renting in rough neighborhoods. We moved to a quaint one story at the edge of town. It was such a victory for my single mother and I felt a sense of pride in being the daughter of such a hard working woman. Our change in location failed to win me friends, though. I don’t know why I thought it would. My peers had memories like elephants, and never let me forget where I came from. The girls would scoff at my jeans hemmed an inch too short, and my out of season top. The guys that bothered acknowledging my existence laughed when their friends called me trailer trash. I knew I’d never be good enough for their approval. Not that it stopped me from trying. I grimace at the memory of wedging myself into the mean girls’ conversations. Only to have a frog in my throat as they picked me apart like the vultures they were.
So, I befriended characters in books instead. And no one stopped me from choosing them. I did have one friend, Samson. I’d say he was my best friend, but he was introverted too. His friends were in video games instead of books. We basically got one another through the long days of high school, though I longed for more meaningful friendships. Samson and I hadn’t talked much since I moved away. I wondered how he was doing. What, he was doing. One of us had to make an effort, but part of me felt as though he no longer cared about me. In the back of my mind, I felt Blue’s disgust in my self doubt.
As I went to text my mom back, Mariah cleared her throat loudly, bringing me back to the present.
April had been talking this entire time. “Swim out to the island dock. Look for your name and further instructions.”
Apparently, I had missed a lot. I looked out at the man-made lake and sure enough, there was a large wooden dock anchored, the posts held up by buoys, bobbing with the waves. A warning about getting wet would have been nice to include in our invites. What was next? I was playing truth or dare without the options because strangers asked me to. I guess I hoped they wouldn’t remain strangers for long.
For a second, I was at least glad for the Georgia heat. I looked up at Dennis, his arms crossed over his now naked chest. My eyes ogled the lines of his six pack abs. He caught me staring and instead of giving me a look of disgust, he looked amused. I felt my face flush and looked away. My body was boiling with mortification. I forced myself to look elsewhere to avoid his questioning gaze.
I noticed now other people had discarded shoes, or had switched into gym uniforms. The guys were all shirtless. The girls who hadn’t switched into gym clothes, chose to stick it out fully clothed. Had I been on an entirely different planet? How had I missed all of this? If I wanted to be Blue, I had to get it together. I took a breath, looking out into the water. It was shining bright in the sunlight, welcoming. I had dyed my hair because I wanted change. Now it was staring me right in the face. I didn’t want to be shy anymore.
April shouted, “go!”
I stripped to my underwear and dove in.
Comments